There are currently few effective and non-invasive methods to screen for early stages of cancer. But scientists have now developed a new blood test that promises to detect eight different cancers.

Women who’ve never had a Pap smear or who’ve skipped a few don’t need to miss out on cervical screening. For the first time, some can take their own sample if that makes them feel more comfortable.
from www.shutterstock.comNovember 30, 2017

I recently had a colonoscopy, an invasive medical procedure to examine the bowel, and was hugely relieved to get the all-clear. I posted a description of my experience to my friends on Facebook and got…

Women are confused about how the new test for human papillomavirus (HPV), pictured here, will help them prevent cervical cancer. Let’s fix that.
from www.shutterstock.comFebruary 28, 2017

Screening can save lives, which is why the NHS offers checks for breast, cervical and bowel cancers. Breast screening tries to pick up cancer at an early stage when it may be more treatable. Cervical screening…

Well-informed men see prostate cancer testing as an individual decision rather than a public health priority.
Miguel Pires da Rosa/FlickrFebruary 3, 2015

Screening for prostate cancer using the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test for men with no symptoms is controversial: experts are divided, and Australians are not routinely well-informed. Prostate cancer…

If we want to know whether screening saves lives, we need to show a reduction in the cancer death rate rather than an increase in the survival rate.
Steven Depolo/FlickrJanuary 27, 2015

Cancer screening is beneficial when it’s able to prevent people dying from cancer. And it should clearly be adopted where there’s evidence showing this. But using cancer survival rates to promote screening…

Across 38 years in tobacco control, I have been asked countless times in media interviews if I ever smoked. It’s often an early question. I always unhesitatingly explain that I did: I stopped in my mid…